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1. I starting to think whoever is writing the soap opera, General Hospital, is a conservative and traditional Republican.
2. Had a rather interesting conversation today, albeit brief, with my co-worker about Roger Zelzany's Lord of Light. Long story not so short? Co-worker, who tends to share my taste in science fiction and fantasy novels and tv shows, had told me about "Lord of Light" while I was reading Illona Andrews "Magic Strikes", which is the first time I'd stumbled upon Hindu mythology in a fantasy novel. He told me that I really needed to read "Lord of Light" which was amongst his favorite science fiction novels, a true treasure. That he had just uncovered his copy of it the other day - and would bring it in for me to read. A few months past, and about 10 books later, he loaned me "Lord of Light" - explaining that this was something he treasured and held dear. So, with more than a little trepidation, I decided to start reading it. I'm always a bit fearful about reading books that friends love or highly recommend, because what if you really hate it? I mean there's a 50/50 chance that you will. Then what?
And, well...several weeks later.
Co-worker: So you making any headway with Lord of Light?
Me: Well, I've decided it's not the best of books for a commute. For one thing it has really small print and I have to wear reading glasses now to read medium size print.
Co-worker: Not only that, it also has faded print...since it's a paperback. This is why I prefer hard cover.
ME: And the book is out of print.
Co-worker: Not even sure hard cover is available any longer.
Me: I did make it to page 144 or thereabouts.
Co-worker: well if you made it that far - definitely stick with it. It starts to get better, more action, and interaction. The first half is just lots of exposition.
ME: It feels...very plodding. Lots of people online love it. They love the world-building and the politics, and the mythology. And I like that too - and I'm guessing you rec'd it to me for the mythology?
Co-worker: Yes. And for me, what really attracted me to it - was that Zelzany had done a story that I'd never seen done before. It's been done now, but not as well. Read a story recently that I can't remember the name of ..about a mother ship finding this new world and the passengers/humans trying to colonize it. Zelzany's story sort of shows what it would be like to try and colonize a world. It's admittedly been a long time since I read it, and it may not hold up well. If you don't like it - I want be offended or anything. It's totally understandable. It may just not work for you.
[Have I mentioned that co-worker is cool? If only he was 15 years younger and single.]
I also read various reviews on Amazon, negative reviews about the book, which helped articulate my issues with it. While it does world-building, it's not...I was going to say not very good at it, but I think that's the wrong thing to say. A lot of the reviewers stated that. But here's the problem with critical reviews - we have a tendency to place a value judgement on a work of art - i.e. state it is bad writing or poor writing or not done well - when the truth is - it just didn't quite work for us, and we are attempting to justify why.
My difficulty with the world-building in Zelzany's novel is how he chooses to convey or communicate it. In short - his writing style is driving me nuts.
As far as I can tell from random hints and innuendos and the back of the novel: "The story is - that a bunch of humans arrived at a planet. They colonized it. The ship's crew decided to send the passengers to the planet, and chose to rule the planet from above. Utilizing the technology they'd brought with them, they transmigrated themselves from one body to the next, acquiring god-like powers in the process - or rather technology enhanced powers. (I feel like I've seen or read this story before but not sure where. It's been driving me crazy.) They adopted the identities of the Hindu gods to rule the planet. (I think I've seen the same story done but with Greek and Roman Gods.) One of the crew, Sam, decides this is a crappy idea, and uses the same technology to reincarnate himself as Buddha and utilizes the old Buddha teachings to circumvent the Hindu ruling structure that his crew mates have co-opted. His goal is to share the technology with the descendants of the passengers and the crew mates and do away with the whole gods bit."
That's pretty much the world-building and plot in a nutshell. Hardly complicated. But it is conveyed in a confusing and rambling manner. The writer sort of hints at it or circles around it. In part because the novel is basically just a series of short stories gathered together into one novel. And it's told in reverse order, jumping around a bit. Also the writing style is more focused on wry descriptions of temples, villages, lotus fields, and religious rituals then what happened or why it happened. He's more interested in describing a sort of sci-fi/fantasy version of ancient India than well telling me the story. Characters are sort of thrown at you, with little description (which is fine, I don't really need any), and then disappear or they have numerous names to keep track of. They also aren't that well developed. The politics is well, somewhat simplistic. It's basically Sam taking on various guises and manipulating various people in order to fight his old crewmates for power over the world. Meanwhile his old crew mates are manipulating people and fighting to contain Sam. Plus, if you need or require strong female characters in a novel - this one may bug you, since it was a) written in 1967, and b) I don't think Roger Zelzany likes women very much.
My difficulty is - I keep thinking, damn, why aren't we exploring how and why they chose to do this? I would have told this story so differently. I'd have flashbacked to when they first arrived at the planet, or when they first left earth, and how they eventually came to the decision to send the passengers down first - and to rule them from above as gods. Maybe with the best of intentions. Had the fights. And why each picked the roles they did.
There's far too much emphasis in this book on battles/action sequences (which bore me), prophesizing/philosophizing, and where everything is happening and not enough on why, what happened or how. It feels, I don't know, somewhat hollow to me at the moment. [A lot of philosophy at times has a weird hollow feeling - as if it is just words on paper, but no real meaning there - except what someone attributes to it. Which I guess is true of all words really.]
But I do plan to stick with it - because I could change my mind. Also, while I have issues with how the story is being told (I really don't like the writing style), I do love the Hindu mythology and some of the ideas being conveyed - also the set-up is interesting.
From what I've read at Amazon - some of the short stories/chapters work better than others. And you do need stick with it for a bit. I want to get to the point where Yama and Sam become friends, and the bro-romance between the two develops. Right now Yama is just trying to kill Sam for Kali. Just not while commuting or while distracted. It's told in such a way that you sort of need to focus a bit.
Anyhow, what I've learned from this experiment so far - is how differently people read books. We focus on different things. And well, no matter how much we try to understand how someone else related to or read a book, I'm not sure we can. Not quite. We end up just making assumptions.
3. Loving The 100 - which is an interesting depiction of a group of people trying to resettle a world their ancestors almost destroyed. And hoping not to make the same mistakes.
2. Had a rather interesting conversation today, albeit brief, with my co-worker about Roger Zelzany's Lord of Light. Long story not so short? Co-worker, who tends to share my taste in science fiction and fantasy novels and tv shows, had told me about "Lord of Light" while I was reading Illona Andrews "Magic Strikes", which is the first time I'd stumbled upon Hindu mythology in a fantasy novel. He told me that I really needed to read "Lord of Light" which was amongst his favorite science fiction novels, a true treasure. That he had just uncovered his copy of it the other day - and would bring it in for me to read. A few months past, and about 10 books later, he loaned me "Lord of Light" - explaining that this was something he treasured and held dear. So, with more than a little trepidation, I decided to start reading it. I'm always a bit fearful about reading books that friends love or highly recommend, because what if you really hate it? I mean there's a 50/50 chance that you will. Then what?
And, well...several weeks later.
Co-worker: So you making any headway with Lord of Light?
Me: Well, I've decided it's not the best of books for a commute. For one thing it has really small print and I have to wear reading glasses now to read medium size print.
Co-worker: Not only that, it also has faded print...since it's a paperback. This is why I prefer hard cover.
ME: And the book is out of print.
Co-worker: Not even sure hard cover is available any longer.
Me: I did make it to page 144 or thereabouts.
Co-worker: well if you made it that far - definitely stick with it. It starts to get better, more action, and interaction. The first half is just lots of exposition.
ME: It feels...very plodding. Lots of people online love it. They love the world-building and the politics, and the mythology. And I like that too - and I'm guessing you rec'd it to me for the mythology?
Co-worker: Yes. And for me, what really attracted me to it - was that Zelzany had done a story that I'd never seen done before. It's been done now, but not as well. Read a story recently that I can't remember the name of ..about a mother ship finding this new world and the passengers/humans trying to colonize it. Zelzany's story sort of shows what it would be like to try and colonize a world. It's admittedly been a long time since I read it, and it may not hold up well. If you don't like it - I want be offended or anything. It's totally understandable. It may just not work for you.
[Have I mentioned that co-worker is cool? If only he was 15 years younger and single.]
I also read various reviews on Amazon, negative reviews about the book, which helped articulate my issues with it. While it does world-building, it's not...I was going to say not very good at it, but I think that's the wrong thing to say. A lot of the reviewers stated that. But here's the problem with critical reviews - we have a tendency to place a value judgement on a work of art - i.e. state it is bad writing or poor writing or not done well - when the truth is - it just didn't quite work for us, and we are attempting to justify why.
My difficulty with the world-building in Zelzany's novel is how he chooses to convey or communicate it. In short - his writing style is driving me nuts.
As far as I can tell from random hints and innuendos and the back of the novel: "The story is - that a bunch of humans arrived at a planet. They colonized it. The ship's crew decided to send the passengers to the planet, and chose to rule the planet from above. Utilizing the technology they'd brought with them, they transmigrated themselves from one body to the next, acquiring god-like powers in the process - or rather technology enhanced powers. (I feel like I've seen or read this story before but not sure where. It's been driving me crazy.) They adopted the identities of the Hindu gods to rule the planet. (I think I've seen the same story done but with Greek and Roman Gods.) One of the crew, Sam, decides this is a crappy idea, and uses the same technology to reincarnate himself as Buddha and utilizes the old Buddha teachings to circumvent the Hindu ruling structure that his crew mates have co-opted. His goal is to share the technology with the descendants of the passengers and the crew mates and do away with the whole gods bit."
That's pretty much the world-building and plot in a nutshell. Hardly complicated. But it is conveyed in a confusing and rambling manner. The writer sort of hints at it or circles around it. In part because the novel is basically just a series of short stories gathered together into one novel. And it's told in reverse order, jumping around a bit. Also the writing style is more focused on wry descriptions of temples, villages, lotus fields, and religious rituals then what happened or why it happened. He's more interested in describing a sort of sci-fi/fantasy version of ancient India than well telling me the story. Characters are sort of thrown at you, with little description (which is fine, I don't really need any), and then disappear or they have numerous names to keep track of. They also aren't that well developed. The politics is well, somewhat simplistic. It's basically Sam taking on various guises and manipulating various people in order to fight his old crewmates for power over the world. Meanwhile his old crew mates are manipulating people and fighting to contain Sam. Plus, if you need or require strong female characters in a novel - this one may bug you, since it was a) written in 1967, and b) I don't think Roger Zelzany likes women very much.
My difficulty is - I keep thinking, damn, why aren't we exploring how and why they chose to do this? I would have told this story so differently. I'd have flashbacked to when they first arrived at the planet, or when they first left earth, and how they eventually came to the decision to send the passengers down first - and to rule them from above as gods. Maybe with the best of intentions. Had the fights. And why each picked the roles they did.
There's far too much emphasis in this book on battles/action sequences (which bore me), prophesizing/philosophizing, and where everything is happening and not enough on why, what happened or how. It feels, I don't know, somewhat hollow to me at the moment. [A lot of philosophy at times has a weird hollow feeling - as if it is just words on paper, but no real meaning there - except what someone attributes to it. Which I guess is true of all words really.]
But I do plan to stick with it - because I could change my mind. Also, while I have issues with how the story is being told (I really don't like the writing style), I do love the Hindu mythology and some of the ideas being conveyed - also the set-up is interesting.
From what I've read at Amazon - some of the short stories/chapters work better than others. And you do need stick with it for a bit. I want to get to the point where Yama and Sam become friends, and the bro-romance between the two develops. Right now Yama is just trying to kill Sam for Kali. Just not while commuting or while distracted. It's told in such a way that you sort of need to focus a bit.
Anyhow, what I've learned from this experiment so far - is how differently people read books. We focus on different things. And well, no matter how much we try to understand how someone else related to or read a book, I'm not sure we can. Not quite. We end up just making assumptions.
3. Loving The 100 - which is an interesting depiction of a group of people trying to resettle a world their ancestors almost destroyed. And hoping not to make the same mistakes.